The Beggar's Opera: The Music The Music Scene Changes Georg Frideric Handel stopped writing opera after 1741, which can be seen as evidence of the declining popularity of the art form. Handel, the most prolific and famous composer of the 18th century in England realized that the public favor was changing. Many Englishmen believed that the Italian star singers were overpaid and uncivil, that the language was a frustrating barrier, that the recitative (or sung dialogue) was artificial, and that the plots were unrealistic. 8 The rise of the ballad opera offered an appealing alternative genre. In 1728, the first performance of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera attracted the acclaim and attention of the popular audience in England. The first run of the performance lasted 62 nights! Today, this sounds like a lot, but in the 18th century, it was an unprecedented touchstone. 9 Later, the opera was performed internationally in Dublin, Glasgow, Jamaica and New York.

10 In 1750, The Beggar's Opera was one of the earliest musical comedies produced in America 11 ; appropriately, it was produced in New York, which today is the mecca of musical comedy. The opera launched the popularity of a new form of stage entertainment, the ballad opera. The audience for the ballad opera, unlike opera's noble and upper-class following, included people from the lower class, middle class, and upper class. 12 Londoners loved the realism and satire in the ballad opera; they left the theater talking about it and singing the familiar tunes. The book trade was also stimulated because of its controversial subject matter and satire. Evidence of its popularity in the 18th century, The Beggar's Opera was performed every year of the 18th century after 1728. 13 The Satire and Controversy The Beggar's Opera was a double satire of the Italian opera tradition and of the political corruption of incumbent Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and his government. Gay mocked the Italian opera tradition in many ways: Gay chose popular simple tunes to mock what many British believed to be the overly virtuousic and artificial airs of Italian opera.

The composer disposed of recitative altogether in favor of spoken dialogue. Gay's main characters are thieves and bawds, rather than the heroes and kings of Italian opera. Finally, he makes fun of the often-disliked Italian divas. The year before John Gay's opera premiered, the two leading prima donnas in London, Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni, were well known to be enemies. In 1727, their rivalry escalated to a fight on stage; the two divas scratched and pulled out each other's hair! The rivalry between these ladies inspired Gay's leading female characters, Polly Peachum and Lucy Lockit, and their quarreling scenes. 14 The ballad opera not only made fun of Italian opera, but also provided a new popularity for native music that the masses knew and enjoyed. Gay's ballad opera also satirized Walpole and his government. The main characters, Macheath and Peachum, were portraits of well-known criminals John Sheppard and Jonathon Wild, a notorious informer executed in 1725. 15 Peachum was also meant to satirize Sir Robert Walpole.

Peachum's behavior as a thief, womanizer, and double-dealer directly stabbed at Walpole who was known as a corrupt leader as well as an adulterer. 16 Walpole had tried to eliminate free press many times through "spies, bribery, imprisonment, and the buying up of journalists and newspapers." 17 When The Beggar's Opera premiered, the most controversial newspaper of the time, "The Craftsman," published numerous reviews praising Gay's ballad opera and reporting its success. Sir Walpole went to see Gay's opera and, not surprisingly, hated it. 18 Walpole banned John Gay's sequel, Polly, in 1729. Although Polly was banned from the theaters, it was published and widely sold in the bookshops at a great profit to John Gay. Lasting Influence of The Beggar's Opera The Beggar's Opera is still the most successful example of the ballad opera genre. There were many authors in addition to John Gay who attempted to contribute to the genre after John Gay's success in 1728.

Some of these ballad operas included: an anonymous Robin Hood (1730) Walter Aston's The Restauration of King Charles II (1732), which was banned John Mottley and Thomas Cooke's Penelope (1728) John Breval's The Rape of Helen (1733) Colley Cibber's Love in a Riddle (1729), which was later cut and successfully produced anonymously as Damon and Phillida Charles Coffey's The Devil to Pay (1731) Henry Carey's The Honest Yorkshireman (1735) numerous examples written by Henry Fielding. 19 The only ballad opera that came close to the success of Gay's opera was the Irishman Coffey's The Devil to Pay. 20 Henry Fielding was an important contributor of ballad operas. Although he is most famous today for his novels like Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews, Henry Fielding was a popular dramatist in his day, and he wrote thirty plays which include ten ballad operas.

A few of his ballad operas are The Author's Farce (1730), The Welsh Opera (1731), and Don Quixote in England (1734). 21 The success of the ballad opera not only inspired other writers, it also contributed to enlarging the audience for theater to include more of the social classes. This created a greater need for theaters and contributed to the increasing use of the theater in the Haymarket, the use of the Goodman's Fields Theatre, and the building of Covent Garden in 1732. 22 The ballad opera genre undoubtedly led to the body of 19th century work of Gilbert and Sullivan, the British librettist and composer who wrote over 20 satirical operettas that are still popular today. The influence of Gay's opera continued into the 20th century. In 1928, Bertold Brecht wrote an adaptation of The Beggar's Opera and called it The Threepenny Opera, including music written by Kurt Weill.

23 Gay's opera's lasting influence is confirmed by the fact that it remains the most famous ballad opera in existence today, and some believe it is the only notable one as well. The Beggar's Opera (Theatre) - TV Tropes The Beggar's Opera You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share WMG The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera by John Gay, which premiered in 1728. Supposedly written by a beggar, who comes out on stage at the beginning and end to talk to the audience, the show inverts and parodies opera conventions, using common folk tunes instead of specially-written music, and concerning the lives of the poor and vulgar instead of the high and mighty (though with many satirical asides suggesting that the high and mighty are not so different). The central character of the opera is Macheath, a highwayman by trade and an inveterate womanizer by personal inclination.

When the story begins, he is romancing Polly Peachum, whose father fences stolen goods and arranges matters for his clients when they get in trouble with the law (unless he's making less off their thievery than he would from turning them in for the reward money, in which case he'll do so without hesitation). Peachum is horrified to learn his daughter has married Macheath in secret — the more so when she professes to have done it for love, without thought of material advancement — and resolves to get Macheath into the hands of the authorities, but Polly helps him escape. Despite vowing love and fidelity to Polly, Macheath resumes his womanizing, until two of his girlfriends conspire to sell him out to Peachum. Macheath finds himself in jail, facing imminent execution; worse, the jail keeper's daughter, Lucy Lockit, is another ex-girlfriend, to whom he promised marriage before he fell in with Polly Peachum. He manages to persuade Lucy that his recent marriage is a fiction put about by Polly, and she helps him escape (the usual method of bribing his way out having failed, since Peachum and Lockit have united in wanting him safely dead and away from their daughters).

Having delivered another round of protestations of love and fidelity, he returns to womanizing once again, until yet another ex-girlfriend sells him out, and he winds up back in prison. This time his time has come, and he is escorted away to the gallows... ...but the beggar returns to the stage and announces a Deus ex Machina reprieve, on the grounds that An Aesop is one thing, but modern audiences insist on a happy ending. The Beggar's Opera was a massive success for its author, for its stars, and for the producer, John Rich; it was famously said that it made Gay rich and Rich gay . It inspired many imitations and adaptations, most famous nowadays being the German musical The Threepenny Opera , which debuted in 1928, The Beggar's Opera's bicentennial year.

Other adaptations include Speakeasy, a 1998 Takarazuka production; The Villains' Opera, a 2000 National Theatre production with a Setting Update to modern times; and The Convict's Opera, a 2008 Australian ballad musical about a group of convicts putting on a production of The Beggar's Opera (which is included, somewhat abridged, as a Show Within a Show ). The Beggar's Opera provides examples of: An Aesop : The Beggar remarks that the opera ought to end with all the villains being hanged to show that crime doesn't pay, but... The Casanova : Macheath. He loves women, he says at one point, but expecting him to be happy with one is like expecting a man who loves money to be happy with one coin. Posted by Jan den Breejen on September 21, 2000 at 23:49:43: The Beggars Opera (1728) - the character of Lucy case text: At its London premiere on 29 January 1728, The Beggar's Opera triumphed as an immediate success.

In his comic operetta, John Gay parodied both government corruption and the vogue for Italian opera. The arias were popular ballads with new lyrics by Gay, and the characters were pickpockets and prostitutes. William Hogarth, as Gay's friend, painted six canvases of the final scene, which is set in Newgate Prison. Life is a jest, and all things show it. I thought it once, and now I know it. (John Gay's self-written epitaph) . John Gay was born in Devon in 1685. He died in 1732 and was buried in Westminster. He was briefly an apprentice to a silk merchant in London. As an apprentice he became familiar with London. Although he disliked it, his years as an apprentice provided him with much of the material for his success. When his apprenticeship was complete, he returned to Devon. To pursue success as a writer he once again went to London in 1707 or 1708. Gay worked for a time as a secretary for Arthur Hill, a friend from Barnstable Grammar School. Hill was very interested in the theatre and became manager of a company owned by William Collier, then a Tory member of Parliament.

Although the job lasted only two years, Gay - as Hill's secretary - gained invaluable experience. Writers of the time were dependent upon wealthy patrons to support them and their works. Gay inherited a small sum from his brother and in 1712 obtained a position with the Duchess of Monmouth. Through this position he became acquainted with those who would later become his patrons, most importantly, the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry. By this time he had also come to the attention of Alexander Pope and the Scriblerus circle. Although he produced two plays, the Mohocks (which was never staged due to politics) and The Wife of Bath, he achieved his first major succes with The Shepherd's Week in 1714. Gay did not confine his efforts to the stage. In 1727 Gay wrote Fables, a set of beast fables that proved extremely popular and established his reputation as a poet. In the last volume (50) Gay wrote of his own situation in having to rely on patrons for favor: Friendship, like love, is but a name, Unelss to one you stint the falme.

The child, whom many fathers share, Hath seldom known a father's care; 'Tis thus in frienships; who depend On many, rarely find a friend. A Hare, who, in a civil way, Comply'd with ev'rything, like Gay. John Gay was to achieve his greatest success with The Beggar's Opera. The Beggar's Opera debuted in 1728 in London. It was an immediate success, breaking all previous records and was performed more than any other play during the 18th century.(1) It was a complete departure from the popular Italian operas of its time. Beggar's Opera used both dialogue and music to further the story. Gay took music from whereever he could find them. Forty-one of the sixty-nine airs were broadside ballads of the time. The other tunes were borrowed from contemporary composers (including Handel). To these tunes he wrote lyrics to fit his play. Instead of taking his plot from myth he wrote a story focused on the underbelly of society - thieves, whores, fences and jailers.

The world of the Beggar's opera is gritty and real, it's end optimistic only because of the popular insistence that Operas must end happily. Despite its grim reality, The Beggar's Opera is a comedy. It is a period romp that comments with brilliant satire on life. It's satire was on both society and politics. The populace and critics of the time understood Walpole to be the subject of many of the scenes, and his play Polly was banned by Walpole for the fact. The Beggar's Opera is so-called because The Beggar - the author of the tale - introduces the play. It tells the story of a love triangle between the highwayman Macheath, his fence's daughter Polly and the jailer's daughter Lucy (who is pregnant with his child). Upon discovering the marriage of Macheath and his daughter, Peachum, the fence, determines to have Macheath sent to Newgate. Polly warns him but Macheath is betrayed by the whores he frolics with and is confined to Newgate. Lucy finds him there and being assured by MacHeath that the marriage was all in Polly's mind, helps him to escape. Macheath is again captured and is sentenced to be hung.

As he is to be hung the jailor brings in four other wives - "with a child apiece." Macheath pronounces it too much and says he is ready to be hanged. At this point, in a scene aside, the author (the Beggar) is persuaded to change the ending from a hanging to a happy ending. Accordingly Macheath has to settle on one wife only (Polly). Gay followed The Beggar's Opera with a sequel, Polly, in which Macheath is transported to the West Indes and becomes a pirate. He is in the company of Jenny Diver, the prostitute who betrayed him in The Beggar's Opera and living bigamously. Polly goes to the West Indes looking for Macheath. By the end of the play Macheath is executed and Polly marries the Indian prince Cawwawkee when her mourning is over. Polly was not produced on stage during Gay's lifetime. Robert Walpole - who had been the butt of satire in The Beggar's Opera, this time found the satire more blatent and strong. He banned its production. Although it was not produced, Gay made a great deal of money from Polly's written publication.

Gay wrote other plays, but none achieved the great success of The Beggar's Opera. Throughout the eighteenth century The Beggar's Opera was staged "just about everywhere in the English speaking world where room could be found to put up a stage."(1) ++++ Jan's analysis Querulous Lucy seems to be an mainly paranoid personality with negativistic style too. In mythology the vigilant griffin is the instrument of the goddess of wrath Nemesis; and surely Lucy has is vengeful: explosive outbursts of anger are typical for her ('Oh you base manï¿½.thou has robbed my of my quiet - to see thee tortured would give me pleasure'). She's alert and deeply suspicious; vigilantly guarded towards Macheath. She bears grudges and is unforgiving; insisting that she has been wronged and wants revenge. Polly is skeptical, quarrelsome and abrasive. Of course the accusations of infidelity who come so natural from her character are justified in the situation. Paranoids can be quite right and justified in being suspicious. In fact paranoia is a genetic defense mechanism in all humans in order to prevent naivity and being misused or attacked.

We all are paranoid to some extend (evolution made us so.) The stressing experience with the highwayman activates her defense mechanism and makes her caricature ALL men: 'This is the pleasure of ALL you fine men to insult the women you have ruined' 'Am I then bilked with my virtue? Can I have no reparation? Sure, men were born to lie, and women to believe them. Oh villain! Villain!' All things that don't fit with Lucy's house rules are removed/rejected: 'If you are determined, madam, to raise a disturbance in the prison, I shall be obliged to send for the turnkey to show you the door. I am sorry madam, you force me to be so ill-bred' Also Lucy is over-sensitive to supposed criticism: 'Why must all your suspicion light upon me?' The beggars opera The beggars opera Last Edited: 23rd March, 2015 This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Explore the ways in which The Beggar's Opera influenced the development ofmusical theatre in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. What were the reasons for its continued popularity?

Intro The Beggar's opera' is an outstanding piece of writing, which has for centuries been an inspiration of talent to musical theatre everywhere. John gay's piece has led to the creation of many different production's, that shall be talked about in more depth throughout the essay. The 18th Century is the obvious place to start, with the first production being staged in 1728 on 28 January . This is also where John Gay's marked his place in History as a great Ballad Opera writer. Ballad Opera was a new Style of musical theatre made huge by it's humorous satire, which could be related to by all types and classes of people, because of it's satire on Italian Opera's and British prime minister Walpole at the time. The play in it's new and unique group managed to relate to a mass amount of people who found the humorous play to be so true in it's own exaggerated wayWhen given the question (Explore the ways in which 'The Beggar's opera' influenced the development of musical theatre in the eighteen and twentieth centuries. What were the reasons for it's continued popularity?) there were certain aspects of the ballad opera which I needed to understand before answering the question.

The Production, adaptation's of the play, the stylistic aspects, the construction, and it's popularity within the two Centuries are some of the key aspects needed to answer the question. 'The beggar's opera' and Its low-life settings were Taken and used in pieces like The Cobbler's Opera, which is set in Billingsgate. Charles Johnson's The Village Opera ( 1729 ) started a trend for more emotional and more rural subject, which contained little satire or wit. None of these two opera's came close to the success of The Beggar's Opera. This waspartly to do with the fact Gay had used most of the best songs in the public domain.(footnote) The popularity of The ballad opera caused a lot of serious difficulties for The composers and Italian opera houses at the time including composers such as Handel. When the obsession had died, there were still shorter pieces of the same style which came onto the scene and became popular afterpieces of the Big shows.(footnote) These pieces were written In the early 1760s, they were unoriginal pieces of ballad opera.

One called Thomas and sally(1760) by Arne, and one called Love in a village(1772) also by Arne. These were considered unoriginal because only 5 new songs were written for the opera and some were taken from his previous works. (footnote) Bibliography and More Information about ballad opera R. Fiske , English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1973, 2/1986) Y. Noble (ed.), Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Beggar's Opera (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1975) Percy Scholes / Nicholas Temperley Only The Beggars opera' is the only one out of the pieces that kept it's popularity. It was a huge milestone of the 20th century for musical theatre, was an adaptation (probably the most well known of all that have been done) of the 'The beggar's opera', The Threepenny Opera. The piece was inspired by 'The beggar's Opera in its social message, using some of the same characters and even one of the songs.

Composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht changed old-fashioned opera and operetta forms, an incorporateda political view and the sound of 1920s Berlin dance bands and cabaret into the play. Weill's harmonies and Brecht's writing created a completely new musical theatre that inspired some of the most well known hits such as Chicago and cabaret. "Mack the Knife," is one of the most well know tunes of the century, this is the opening song to the play.(footnote) The first night of 'Three penny opera' was August 31, 1928. No one knew what to expect from the night, but not long in and everyone began to shout and cheer. The show turned out to be a brilliant success and the popularity spread throughout Europe. This started something huge. After the Berlin premiere, 46 stage productions of the work was generated because of the popularity from audiences. 1931 brought a film version to it's audience, the film was called Die 3-Groschenoper. This made a an international star out of weill's wife, Lotte Lenya.

The opera, by 1933 had already been produced 130 times all over the world. The play really took off after the war when there was a New York production at Theatre de lys, this production was off Broadway. It ran from 1954 to 1961 and the show did a total of 2707 performance and was the longest running play in history a the time. The Threepenny Opera is still entertaining audiences all over the world. There are three cinematic versions of the work, made in 1931, 1963, and 1988. the music and story of The Threepenny Opera as stayed irresistible to audiences everywhere as they were in 1928. This adaptation of 'the beggar's opera' as you can see has had significant inspiration on musical theatre, and had a lot on early popular music of the 20th century. In America, ballad opera began with the importation of an English work, Flora, or Hob in the Well, which was given at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1735.

The first American performance of The Beggar's Opera itself took place in New York in 1750. Thereafter all the most popular English comic operas were quickly imported, and, indeed, for long they formed the sole operatic entertainment in the English colonies and successor states, since Italian and French opera did not reach that part of America until the 1790s, and no serious attempt to promote Italian opera was made until 1825 . Many writer's of the time were sticking to Italian Opera, which were very serious 1953 brought forward a new light on the ballad opera turning it into a film. The film priemered in London on the 5th of June 1953, film1985, Musical theatre before 'The beggar's opera' was very different. During the 17th Century there was a period called interregnum, unfortunately this had an effect on musical theatre and During this time theatrical performances were forbidden under the Puritan government. After this period and when the restoration was finally over, there was a lot of changes to society.

There was a lot of positive effects on the country's performing arts, and because of the financial developments the balance of social classes came together. Londoners started to appreciate newer forms of artistic expression. They welcomed teachers of Italian and French to the city, as well as the many Continental musicians who arrived and settled there. An era began where Italian style was put above all other types of entertainment. The Italian castrato was a male singer who was trained to sing with soprano or alto voice. The Italian Castrato became very popular(footnote) John gay took a lot of his inspiration for the 'The beggar's opera' Production's an adaptations of The beggar's opera since 1728 have been everywhere. I have taken a look at some of these since it's first performance to show how much of a success it was even 250 years on, the influence on musical theatre has shown in many different types of opera.

The Beggar’s Opera The Beggar’s Opera in Daily Programme , Radio Riel Main by Elrik Merlin on Wednesday, 16 April, 2014 Today on Radio Riel we present a programme of traditional dance music from Playford and other sources (including modern interpretations from ECD and Morris performers), plus two presentations of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), which features tunes popular in the 18th century (with revised lyrics) arranged by Johann Pepusch. The Beggar’s Opera is a ‘ballad opera’ in three acts and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today. Ballad operas were satiric musical plays that used some of the conventions of opera, but without recitative. The lyrics of the airs in the piece are set to popular broadsheet ballads, opera arias, church hymns and folk tunes of the time. Some are the most popular tunes by well-known composers like Handel and Purcell, but many are folk and folk-dance melodies from around Britain.

The Beggar’s Opera premiered at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre on 29 January 1728 and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. The work satirised Italian opera, which had become popular in London, and stems from a suggestion by Jonathan Swift to create a work that featured the ordinary people of London instead of the kings and princes of Italian opera. The work also satirises Walpole and his corrupt British government of the time (Gay’s sequel, Polly, was banned by Walpole). The ballad opera genre forms an obvious antecedent to the 19th century work of Gilbert & Sullivan, whose satirical operettas remain popular today. The genre can also be credited with setting the stage for the modern musical. And in 1928, Bertold Brecht wrote an adaptation of The Beggar’s Opera called The Threepenny Opera, including almost entirely new music by Kurt Weill. Its socialist critique of capitalist society echoed reverberations that ring on today. Read more about The Beggar’s Opera in Wikipedia .

We will be playing the complete restored 1962 recording conducted by Max Goberman, at 11am and 7pm Pacific Time (19:00 and 03:00 in the UK). The picture shows the painting based on The Beggar’s Opera, scene 5, by William Hogarth, in the Tate Britain. Today’s programme is presented by Elrik Merlin. If you are tuning in from Canada or the United States, please click here to hear the programme. Otherwise, click here to start your player , if your browser is configured to do so. The Beggar's Opera: Biography Gay published poems, fables, plays, and ballad operas.

His most notable works include: 5 The Shepherd's Weeks, a series of mock-classical pastoral poems (1714) What D'Ye Call It, a satirical play (1715) "Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London," a poem (1716) Three Hours after Marriage, a comedy written with Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot (1717) Acis and Galatea, the libretto to Handel's opera and Gay's final attempt at ballad opera (1719) Poems on Several Occasions, a set of poems (1720) Fables, a set of beast fables (1727-38) Fifty-One Fables in Verse (1727) The Beggar's Opera, his famous ballad opera (1728) Polly, the sequel to The Beggar's Opera which was published but not performed (1729) Achilles (1733) Although Gay wrote numerous poems and plays, his ballad opera The Beggar's Opera was certainly his greatest success and his most important contribution. John Gay is credited with the first success of the ballad opera genre.

Although many scholars believe his ballad opera was the only notable one of its kind, many scholars also believe that his opera led to the popular and successful operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The success of the ballad opera was immediate and Gay made a significant amount of money from the opera. Even though Gay was successful as a writer, he was not a rich man. Luckily, he made friends with some of the high society who helped support him. Most notable were the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury. Gay met them when he was working for the Duchess of Monmouth. The Duchess of Queensbury became Gay's most important patron until his death. 6 John Gay died at the age of 47 on December 4, 1732 in London. He was buried in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. The inscription on his tomb is taken from The Beggar's Opera and spoken by the Beggar, showing Gay's humor until the end of his life: "Life is a Jest, and all Things show it: I thought so once and now I know it".

7 Engraved print of The Beggar's Opera by William Blake after Hogarth, London, England, about 1729 18th-century plays The 18th century saw the flourishing of theatre as a popular pastime and many theatres were enlarged and new playhouses built in London and the provinces. One of the most successful shows on the London stage in the early part of the 18th century was the ballad opera The Beggar's Opera. John Gay recycled popular songs of the day and wrote new lyrics that were humorous and satirical. Despite the attempt to suppress it via the 1737 Licensing Act, satire remained popular, such as those staged by Samuel Foote at the Haymarket Theatre. This engraving shows a performance of The Beggar's Opera from about 1729. This comic opera was first produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre by the father of pantomime John Rich in 1728. Engraved print of John Gay, London, England, about 1730 It was a huge success and was regularly revived throughout the century making (as was noted at the time) 'Rich gay and Gay rich'.

At this time, it was still common for members of the audience to pay a little extra to sit on the stage itself. This ensured that everyone in the house could see their fine clothes, hear their witty comments and the young gallants could get close to the actresses. When an actor had a benefit performance, they would squeeze as many seats as they could on to the stage in order to maximise their profit. The actors barely had enough room to perform and were subject to interference from the spectators. John Gay, born in 1688, is most famous for his ballad opera The Beggar's Opera, first produced in 1728. This wasn't his first attempt at writing for the stage. He had tried satire, comedy and pastoral, including The Mohocks in 1712 and The What d'ye Call It in 1715. He had also written some poetry. However, none of these works had gone down particularly well with audiences. The Beggar's Opera took the town by storm. Gay himself seems to have been a charming man but quite shy.

Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum in The Beggar's Opera, mezzotint print by John Faber (the Younger) after John Ellys, London, England, 1728, Harry Beard Collection. Museum no. S.3769-2009 He presented himself to the world as a simple countryman, but the modesty hid a sharp eye and a sly sense of humour. The portrait captures these qualities, as does the epitaph he wrote for himself. He worked and was friends with many of the great writers of his day, such as Alexander Pope, to whom this plate is dedicated. Furthermore, one of the most famous satires of the time was Lilliput based on Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels which was performed on stage in 1756 with a cast of children. Cartoons about current social or political events were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. As well as mocking individuals, they often featured symbolic figures representing a type of person (John Bull, for eample, was the archetypal Englishman).

The below cartoon is satirising the fashion for child actors that swept the country in the late 19th century, the most famous of whom was William Henry West or Master Betty. His success led to The Glasgow Roscius and The Little Siddons, named after Sarah Siddons. The children announcing their identities in this toy theatre take no notice of each other, and all appear to be costumed for a different play. Coloured print entitled John Bull in Lilliput or Theatricals for the Nineteenth Century, published by S W Fores, London, England, February 1805, Harry Beard Collection. Museum no. S.4651-2009 The Laughing Audience by Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879) from an etching by William Hogarth (1697-1764) made in 1733, watercolour, pen and ink, England, 19th century, Harry Beard Collection. Museum no.

S.4207-2009 Shakespeare in the 18th century Shakespeare's plays became increasingly popular during the 18th century but were reworked to suit the tastes of the day. His style was still felt to be too erratic and poets such as Alexander Pope carefully tidied up any uneven verse lines. Shakespeare's ending to King Lear was felt to be too distressing and Nahum Tate's revised version (where Cordelia and the King survive) was preferred to the original. David Garrick rewrote the end of Romeo and Juliet so that the lovers speak to each other before dying in the tomb and turned the Taming of the Shrew into a farce. However, Garrick was also responsible for restoring much of Shakespeare's original text to other plays. The 18th century saw the development of Shakespeare as a national symbol. The Stratford Jubilee of 1769, organised by Garrick, celebrated 200 years since Shakespeare's birth. A wooden octagonal playhouse was constructed beside the river at Stratford-upon-Avon but no work by Shakespeare was performed.

A planned procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays was postponed due to terrible weather and eventually re-enacted on the stage at Drury Lane in London where it proved an enormous hit. This printed paper ticket reads: 'Shakespears Jubilee, the 6th and 7th of September, at Straford upon Avon. This ticket admits one on the 6th to The Oratoria, The Dedication Ode, The Ball and to the Great Booth at the Fireworks. One Guinea.' The ticket is numbered No 335 and is signed and sealed by Garrick. David Garrick Garrick was one of Britain's greatest actors and the first to be called a star. From 1741 until his retirement in 1776, he was a highly successful actor, producer and theatre manager. He wrote more than 20 plays and adapted many more, including plays by Shakespeare. His sellout performance as Richard III at Goodman's Fields Theatre caught the eye of the patent theatres. In 1742, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane hired him and he began a triumphant career that would last for over 30 years. Within five years, he was also managing the theatre.

Garrick changed the whole style of acting. He rejected the fashion for declamation, where actors would strike a pose and speak their lines formally. Garrick preferred a more easy, natural manner of speech and movement. The effect was a more subtle, less mannered style of acting and a move towards realism. One of Garrick's most famous roles was Hamlet. He allegedly had a special wig that made Hamlet's hair stand on end. This he used to dramatic effect in the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears. Whilst modern audiences would probably laugh at the sight of the hair on an actor's wig standing on end, such was the force of Garrick's performance in the scene where Hamlet meets his father's ghost that audiences were filled with absolute terror. Garrick also became a hugely successful manager after taking over Drury Lane theatre in 1747. He made several major changes and ended the tradition of having audience members sitting on the stage, where they often interfered with the action. No other actor has been painted as many times as Garrick. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Venice Preserved, engraved print, Drury Lane Theatre, London, England, mid 18th century The tragic Venice Preserved was written by Thomas Otway in 1682, and became a favourite at Drury Lane for much of the 18th century. David Garrick and Susannah Cibber (1714-1766) regularly appeared in it from 1744 to 1763 playing the leads Jaffier and his wife, Belvidera. This engraving is after a painting by Johann Zoffany (1733-1810) made in 1763, the last year that they undertook the roles. The character of Jaffier is drawn by his friend Pierre into a plot to overthrow the Venetian government. His virtuous wife persuades him to reveal the plot and save the senators, which he does. When he is pardoned and Pierre sentenced to death, he carries out a death pact with his friend, stabbing Pierre to prevent him being tortured, and then himself with the same knife. The role of Jaffier was demanding, but also well suited to Garrick's talents.

It was a psychologically complex part, the character tormented by conflicting emotions. 'Mr Garrick ... beggars description, by an amazing variety of transitions, tones and picturesque attitudes ...' Colour print of David Garrick as Benedick Stage censorship Hogarth, Strolling Actresses in a Barn, 1738. Museum no. E.1273-1990. This engraving, one of a series of prints published under the title of 'Four Times of the Day', shows a group of actresses getting ready for their final performance before their company is disbanded as a result of the Licensing Act of 1737. The Licensing Act of 1737 was to have a huge impact on the development of theatre in Britain. It restricted the production of plays to the two patent theatres and tightened up the censorship of drama, stating that the Lord Chamberlain with his Examiners of Plays must vet any script before a performance was allowed. The act was put in place by Prime Minister Robert Walpole who was concerned that political satire on the stage was undermining him and the authority of the government. A production of The Golden Rump enabled Walpole to push the case for banning obscene drama from the public arena.

The play scandalously suggested that the Queen administered enemas to the King. Henry Fielding, author of a number of successful satires, and others were suspicious that this play had been engineered by Walpole himself. Over the next 100 years the restrictions of the Licensing Act contributed to the popularity of certain styles of theatre. Non-patent theatres produced melodrama, ballad opera and burlesque which incorporated music between short scenes and thus were not classed as plays. The act was responsible for dividing British theatrical performance into what became known as legitimate and illegitimate theatre. The huge growth in demand for theatrical entertainment in the early 19th century made the dominance of the patent theatres unworkable. In 1843 the Patent Act was dropped, enabling other theatres to present drama. However, the Lord Chamberlain's censorship of plays remained in place until 1968. One of the last play to be censored was Edward Bond's production of Saved in 1965.

Before 1968 the Lord Chamberlain's blue pencil marks were struck through lines in literally hundreds of plays including classical works such as Lysistrata by Aristophanes, George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession and Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. In the 1930s club theatres in London managed to avoid censorship by admitting 'members' and presented new and controversial works, including many plays by foreign writers.

Question: Who wrote the "Beggars Opera" in 1728?
Answer: John Gay